title: Sustainability of a culturally informed community-based diabetes prevention program for obese latino youth.
abstract: Latino youth are disproportionately impacted by obesity and type 2 diabetes; however, few lifestyle interventions have targeted this population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a culturally informed lifestyle education program on nutrition and physical activity behaviors among obese Latino youth. A retrospective chart review of 67 youths was conducted with self-reported nutrition and physical activity assessed both immediately following the program and after long-term follow-up. Body mass index (BMI) was evaluated to determine the impact of behavior changes on adiposity. Healthy nutrition and physical activity changes were reported by 20%-59% of youths immediately following the program. However, most of these changes were attenuated over the 261 ± 49 day follow-up with reported walking (25.4%) and sports participation (34.3%) sustained to a greater extent than dietary changes (3.4-14.9%). Nonetheless, children who continued walking at follow-up exhibited significantly larger reductions in BMI compared with those who did not (-1.63 ± 0.56 vs. 0.44 ± 0.30 kg/m(2), P < .05). Based on our pilot study, we conclude that community-based lifestyle education programs can support behavior modification and weight management in obese Latino youth. Ongoing support may be necessary to encourage sustained behavior change to facilitate greater weight loss.
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, Arizona.
authors.forename: Margaret B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Greenwood-Ericksen
authors.forename: Cecilia R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Konopken
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ertl
authors.forename: Gabriel Q
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Shaibi
keywords: Hispanic; community health; health disparities; obesity; type 2 diabetes